FORCING HAMAS TO DISARM — WILL ISRAEL WITHDRAW?

FORCING HAMAS TO DISARM — WILL ISRAEL WITHDRAW?

By Mohd Azmi Abdul Hamid
President, Malaysian Consultative Council of Islamic Organizations (MAPIM)
15 October 2025

The latest discussion emerging from the so-called Sharm El Sheikh Summit for Peace suggests that Hamas may be forced to disarm as a precondition for a ceasefire and reconstruction in Gaza. This proposal is both politically manipulative and morally indefensible.

The critical question that must be asked is this:
If Hamas disarms — will Israel withdraw from occupied territories, end the siege, and dismantle its apartheid system?

History has shown the opposite. Every time the Palestinian side was pressured to concede, Israel expanded its occupation, tightened its blockade, and accelerated illegal settlement activities. To demand that the oppressed surrender their means of defense while the oppressor keeps his tanks, warplanes, and nuclear arsenal is a grotesque distortion of justice.

Disarmament without the dismantling of occupation is not peace, but pacification. It aims to neutralize Palestinian resistance, not to end Israel’s aggression.

Let it be clear: the right to resist foreign occupation is recognized under international law — including the UN General Assembly Resolution 37/43 (1982), which affirms the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples under colonial and racist regimes.

If the international community is sincere about peace, it must demand Israel’s total withdrawal from Gaza, the lifting of the blockade, and the restoration of Palestinian sovereignty. Anything less is submission disguised as diplomacy.

MAPIM rejects any peace framework that demands the Palestinian resistance to disarm while allowing Israel to retain its full military dominance. True peace cannot be built on the disarmament of the victims — it must begin with the disarmament of the aggressor.

Justice before peace — otherwise, peace will be nothing but a continuation of occupation by other means.